Saturday, November 28, 2009

- The antibiotic I'm taking to keep from getting sick to my stomach (and malaria among other things) is making me sick to my stomach. It's also making me sunburn easily.

- Most doors open backwards. I find myself pulling instead of pushing and pushing instead of pulling. I wonder if those in observance have picked up on us Americanites and our propensity to open doors the same.

- It's humid here. The clothes don't dry and I sweat like a banshee. I'm afraid the treadmill will short and electrify my sorry toosh.

- I've been running on a treadmill at the hotel five times now. The power has gone out every time.

- My sweat is starting to smell like coriander.

- Boya is the trainer at the hotel gym. He kind of hovers over you just in case you "need a spot." Kinda makes me uncomfortable. Very nice, however. He brings me many freshly laundered towels that smell of the most delightful of fabric softeners. After two days of bringing me "many" small towels, he's graduated to big towels. A hint, perhaps?

- It's very difficult to wash your face and shower without getting water in the mouth. It's a good thing that Gak taught me that shower-with-mouthwash-in-the-mouth trick. Even shared that trick with our doc who had a trip to El Salvador planned.

- I've gone through two toothbrushes on this trip. Why? Because I keep rising them with the water from the bathroom sink. The teeth must be brushed with bottled water to avoid contaminating the blood stream.

- I'm enjoying the "down" time.

- The locals here have developed an immunity to the water. They can drink water from the taps. I'm thinking the human body can fix itself in many ways - we just need to let it.

- Many trees along the road are painted with a white and redish-orangish stripe. This is done by the government. It means you cannot cut that tree down. (That was fer you, Tom.)

- Restaurants bring warm water and lemon in a bowl after you're finished with your meal. Some restaurants bring it before the meal. It's used to wash the hands.

- Spouse is watching TV in German right now. I've decided he has a language thing. He picks up "bit and pieces" from every language we've heard on this trip. We've heard a bunch of languages: Portuguese, Spanish, French, Hindi, Marathi, and German.

- With all those language bits and pieces, Spouse seems to have trouble with English when I'm speaking it. Sometimes he doesn't understand much. Selective, perhaps?

- I've seen three people welding without eye protection.

- All the outlets here are 220v. In the U.S. most are 110. This means you'll fry your flat iron if you plug it in. For this reason, we purchased a converter thingee to bring the voltage down. Doesn't work and I'm ticked I wasted suitcase space.

- Speaking of suitcase, I think the parents' suitcase will need replacing. The Mumbai airport is rough with the luggage (among other things.)

- People dress modestly. Spouse and I are the only ones in shorts. It is their winter, however. Their winter is 80 degrees (F). I think the Mormons might actually look kinda slutty in comparison.

- The other day I was here at the laptop when I started to smell something similar to that of burnt urine. (Don't tell me you've never peed on a fire.) I finally figured out that it was the laptop's voltage regulator. (You know, the rectangular thing that the chord is attached to.) The regulator reduces the voltage from 220 to 110. After an hour or so, the poor thing started to fry and needed a break. That's where that burnt urine smell was coming from.

- The Muslim prayer chant is played over the city at 6:00am and 6:00pm. Being as the Muslims pray five times a day, I'm sure the Prayer Song is played three more times. I just haven't noticed.

- The piano in the lobby is intensely out of tune. Painfully, intensely, atrociously out of tune.

- Does opening multiple browsers and applications use more of the battery in a laptop? Is it like car and air conditioning? If you run a car without air conditioning the gas will last longer. Maybe the battery will last longer if I don't sort photos, blog and run e-mail all at the same time.

2 comments:

Mi padre livid in Mexico for 5 years. Real Mexico. I got sick of the bottle water plus toothbrush around week 2 and just went for the tap.....my body took it for 2 weeks and then revolted. I bet someone could market the water as a weight loss trend. It works but is not pleasant.

I am going to use that mouthwash in mouth for showers like Gak suggested for my next travels abroad.